


Mid-Morning Rainstorm

by IRegretNothingAndEverything



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Atlas is my farmer and the one i use for things !, Confusion, Hurt/Comfort, Merpeople, Sebastian is doing his best, The farmer is not the og character btw, also sebastian uses he/they pronouns, that's the mer, trying to help and having no clue how to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28838388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IRegretNothingAndEverything/pseuds/IRegretNothingAndEverything
Summary: Sebastian goes down to the pier to smoke, as he tends to do, and instead finds an unconscious merperson, and ends up trying to help them, despite the fact that he has no clue what he's doing in any sense.
Relationships: Sebastian/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All of my writing at this point is very self-indulgent, so uhh. I'm having vibes.

Usually Sebastian wasn’t awake at this time of the day, tending to sleep through the morning, waking up sometime around noon, and working through the night on whatever project that he had to work on for the night. When it rained, however, it usually woke him up early, however that was. The rain forced people indoors for the day, leaving the town even more empty than it normally was. 

On those days, Sebastian liked to walk down to the pier. Elliott wouldn’t leave his cabin on the days when it rained, probably worried for his hair, and Willy usually stayed inside the shop, unless he needed to catch some fish that only came up in biting distance during rainfall. Even if Willy did come out, Sebastian stood on the other side of the pier, and they didn’t talk to each other, other than Willy’s general polite hello before he turned back to his fish. 

His shoes sunk into the sand, soaked as it was, and Sebastian, for a moment, debated if he was going to need new shoes soon. He ducked his head a bit, cupping his hand around the end of his cigarette to lit it, tucking the lighter into the safety of his hoodie pocket as he wandered towards the wooden pier, noting the absence of Willy. Perhaps it was too early in the day, though Sebastian was sure he hadn’t woken that early. Perhaps Willy just didn’t need any of the fish that came up in the rain today. Either way, Sebastian was alone on the pier, wood creaking under his feet, and he preferred it that way. 

The grey horizon stretched across the world, a distant rolling thunder made Sebastian believe the rain wouldn’t let up for another day or two, meaning they would still be safe to sit here at the end of the pier and listen to the rain hit the water, blowing smoke into the wind as staring into the cold grey nothing of the distance. 

At least, that was the plan. 

This time, however, as Sebastian turned to pace back to the sand, not quite done here but not wanting to freeze, he noticed something partially under the pier that he hadn’t from the other direction. They frowned for a moment, taking another step closer and squinting at the shape, before running down the edge of the pier, sliding partially through the wet sand as Sebastian, all at once, realized that was a someone, rather than a something. 

He couldn’t see who it was, but it had to be one of the townsfolk. Perhaps the new farmer, but no, he had seen them wandering into Pierre’s as he walked down to the pier in the first place, but. No matter. They were hurt, and, with the rain like this, he was probably the only person that would see them. 

Sebastian crouched next to them, then frowned. At first, he had assumed their bottom half was hidden in the water, not good for their health either way, but now, he began to realize something. The grey of the frothing water, angered by the heavy waves, melted into their skin, and Sebastian realized that it was a tail- 

Willy had told stories of the merpeople in the sea before, but Sebastian had never put any stock into those stories until now, as one lay on the sand in front of him, hopefully still alive, but Sebastian had no clue how to tell. However, he couldn’t in good conscious just leave them there in the rain to suffer. 

For a moment, he looked back towards the cabin on the beach, Elliott’s little home shack, knowing the romantic would love this, but something held them back from getting up to knock, ask for help. Whatever it was probably lead to the next reaction that Sebastian had, which was to roll the mer onto their back, giving him enough leverage to lift them into his arms, stumbling a bit as they stood, one arm tucked around their shoulders, and the other under their tail, which flopped over his arm limply, one of their arms hanging down in a similar fashion. 

The rain provided near perfect cover, the town all inside their own homes and work, to keep safe from the rain, not willing to travel unless they had to, and not many people had to. So they stayed inside, giving Sebastian enough cover, though he didn’t trust it enough to cut directly through the town square, to get through the main bit of town, the rain pouring down around them as they carried the mer up the steps of the mountain, back towards home. Luck must have been on his side, since no one came out of the buildings as he carried the unconscious mer up the mountainside. 

This was a bad idea. He knew that well, he knew it, but Sebastian figured it was better than anything else. He was pretty good at bad ideas. The house came into view, as Sebastian tired, but he didn’t stop, peeking into the door carefully. Luck continued to be on his side, his mother not at the table like she normally would be, and Sebastian ducked into the safety of the house, dripping wet still from the rain, but didn’t stop to stomp himself dry, ducking into the hall quickly and pushing into the bathoom, shutting the door just as he heard a door open down the hall. He heard his mother step down the hall, her heavy boots creating a different sound than Maru or Demetrius, and he calmed, setting the mer into the bathtub and flipping on the water. 

The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom door as he turned on the bath, and Sebastian froze for a moment. 

“Sebby?” 

He stood, carefully, moving over to the door. “Yeah mom?” 

“Sorry, just making sure that it was you! Have a nice bath.” 

Sebastian let out a breath as she walked away from the door again, eyes darting towards the bath as it filled, the mer’s head rolled to one side, but now that they were in the light, now that they weren’t in the dark grey of the mid-morning rain, Sebastian could see them breathing, and he relaxed a bit, settling onto the floor of the bathroom to watch the tub fill quietly, only moving again to turn the water off once it was full. 

The mer didn’t fully fit into the tub, but it was enough that he was sure it was going to be fine. For now, he sat there, watching quietly, wondering what in the world he was supposed to do in order to help them now. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO finally there's a chapter two, and you get some Maru! 
> 
> I like to think the two of them are a lot better siblings than canon seems to try and show us, y'know? They probably grew up together in some sense. I think they're good siblings. Like they'll kill each other for a corn chip, but like. lovingly.

Her eyes hurt.

Maru squints at the little fiddly bits of this damn robot that was just, giving her so much trouble. She had heard her mother come into her room for a moment, call out that she and Demetrius were going into town for the tavern. She had given some sort of answer, and her mom left, shutting the door carefully behind her. 

That was easily an hour ago, and now her eyes hurt so badly. 

She pushed away from the table, leaning her head back to rub at her burning eyes carefully. These small things always got her. She should pause for a bit. Stop. 

A shower sounded nice. Maru sighed, standing carefully, reaching her arms up to pop her back, the crackle sound racing up her spine as it almost felt like each bone was popping back into place, Maru groaning rather loudly as it did, falling back forwards again, letting out a breath. Damn. 

She glanced around her room, before remembering, no, Sebastian had done towels and sheets laundry last, and he always hung everything up in the bathroom, so her towel was in there. Instead, she gathered a bundle of clothing, pajamas since it was late and she had no qualms about working in pajamas if she got inspired again.

Maru hummed as she walked down the hall towards the bathroom, going to push it open-

The door was locked. She sighed softly. Normally Sebastian showered at three in the morning before he went to bed, which wasn’t a bad thing, but she hadn’t expected him to be in there. 

“Sebastian?” 

Silence for a moment, before he clicked the door lock, pulling it open to peak out at her. He kept the door mostly closed, though she could see that he was fully dressed, just by the hoodie. 

“You almost done?” 

For a moment, he stared at her, an almost panic racing over his eyes, before they glanced back into the bathroom, and sighed. 

“Don’t tell Mom?” 

They never said mom and dad, but Maru knew what he meant. She raised an eyebrow at him, before nodding. This wasn’t the first secret that he asked her to keep and it wouldn’t be the last, and vice versa. 

Sebastian glanced down the hall behind her, before pulling the door open and, rather abruptly, yanking her into the bathroom, pushing the door closed and locking it once more. Maru stumbled, but turned to look into the bathroom anyways. 

There was someone in the tub. She blinked at them, before it registered. Dark skin melted into dark grey scales, a mer’s tail settled in the water. They still weren’t awake, but she could see their chest moving, clothed in what seemed to be very worn and old cloth, though she couldn’t tell if it had a specific purpose before being this worn down. Dark grey hair coiled down the side of the tub, in what could have been considered braids if the person was human.

As the state was, Maru couldn’t be sure that was even hair.

She turned to look back at her brother, standing sheepishly at the door. “Sebastian?” 

“They were hurt. Didn’t... want anyone finding them, just in case.” 

“Sebastian there is a merperson in our bathtub.” They had the decency to look a bit more sheepish at that, but still, he stepped around her, sliding to the floor next to the tub. The mer didn’t react, but Maru could have sworn that their hair twitched. 

Maru set her bundle of clothing onto the counter, then leaned against the door of the under the sink cabinet, leaving the two sibling side by side, but facing each other. 

“So what do we do?” She asked, and Sebastian shrugged a shoulder. 

“I mean... I carried them up from the ocean, I can, I can get them back down there, I just worry, y’know? Cause they were hurt pretty bad, and they haven’t woken up this entire time, and I keep making sure that they stay wet, cause they’re an undersea creature, so I figure-” 

“Sebastian.” 

They cut himself off, nodding slightly, looking back towards the mer, who slept on unaware. Maru stared quietly, before shaking her head. 

“We wait. We wait until they wake up, then we figure out what to do, alright?” 

Sebastian nodded slightly, then looked back to Maru. “Tell me about work, or your machine you’ve been working on.” 

She took that at face value, didn’t dig deeper into the panic ramble that Sebastian had done moments before, then hummed. 

“Well, the Farmer, Atlas? He’s been coming into the clinic almost as soon as it opens to give Harvey home made coffee.” Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded slightly. “Every day. Harvey gets all flustered about it too, but they spend a good amount of the morning talking if neither of them have anything pressing to do.” 

“Glad to see he’s settling into the town well enough.” Sebastian hummed, and Maru nodded slightly.

With that, a calmer topic settled over them, the two of them both talking about the current coding issues they had, since their work actually overlapped a good amount if one thought about it.

As Sebastian, a lot calmer than he had been before, was gesturing a bit wildly about his current coding problem, which was less a problem about the coding itself and more an issue with the commissioner who asked him to do the coding, he froze, eyes darting towards the mer. 

Maru looked over as he did, catching the hair curled around Sebastian’s wrist-she knew it was more than hair, there’s really nothing in the ocean with long hair like this, it had to be tentacles. She froze for a moment, then looked from his wrist to the mer’s face, meeting dark grey eyes that had finally opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian is. Slightly Panicked. Cause y'know there's a merperson in the bathtub. Also had to have Maru's scientist come out a lil bit. 
> 
> If you want these chapters like a single minute earlier, quite literally, my tumblr is diieanywhereelse, where I write into the text post, and then post it both here and there.

**Author's Note:**

> So. Here we are. Self Indulgent moments. I am having fun :)


End file.
